Tripalocal raises AUD $850,000 for China expansion

Tripalocal, has today announced a successful angel funding round of AUD $850,000 led by China-based early stage venture investor Euler Capital LLC.

Tripalocal, has today announced a successful angel funding round of AUD $850,000 led by China-based early stage venture investor Euler Capital LLC.

With offices in Shanghai and Beijing, Tripalocal provides local travel experiences to Chinese international travellers. This could be a tour of Melbourne’s street art with a local photographer or a local coffee experience with a barista in Sydney.

“Our decision to focus on the Chinese market has allowed Tripalocal to develop and test a winning formula, and also access the country’s early stage capital markets,” said Jemma Xu, co-founder and CEO of Tripalocal.

Since launching in early 2015, Tripalocal has formed successful partnerships with a number of Chinese outbound travel platforms, which combined have more than 450 million active users. Also, with the number of Chinese outbound travellers surpassing 100 million in 2014, and more than 700,000 visiting Australia, Tripalocal is capitalising on this growth opportunity by piloting its experiences in Australia first.

The goal is to then roll out similar experiences to other global destinations. As part of the latest intake in the Telstra-backed startup accelerator program, muru-D, Tripalocal has also been able to take advantage of muru-D’s focus in China and receive the $40,000 investment that each participant in the accelerator program secures.

‘‘Tripalocal has developed a unique service offering for the considerable Chinese outbound travel market that will stand it in good stead as it tackles greater market share in the coming months,’ said Annie Parker, co-founder at muru-D. “The founding team has bucket loads of hustle and tenacity that will both be critical for future success in China and elsewhere around the world.”

Terry Hilsberg, muru-D mentor and an angel investor with more than 25 years’ Chinese business and international venture capital experience, has joined Tripalocal as Board Director and Chairman as part of this funding round. “Tripalocal is an excellent example of an Australian startup that from day one had a global focus. As such, the company has been able to access the world’s largest market, and attract early stage Chinese venture investment. It sends a powerful reminder of what is possible to other Australian start-ups that may be considering a similar growth path in China,” Terry said.